Project Update: Planes, Pencils, Set Screws, and Files

I received a message from the distant past last week when a friend from high school who had been watching my Facebook project page contacted me to see if I would be interested in some high quality hand tools left when her father passed away a couple of years ago. I'd heard stories about other guys running across a treasure trove of tools, so I was really quite excited by the prospect of discovering one myself.

When I arrived at her mother's home, it was clear that her father was a talented and industrious woodworker. He had produced from his small basement shop shelves, chairs, bird feeders and, I'm sure, a list of accomplishments that would humble even the most creative woodworker. It was an honor to be chosen to acquire his tools and I will honor him every time I use one.

The list of tools I picked up includes

• 2 - Stanley #4 hand planes, one with a patent year of 1910
• 1 - Stanley 220 hand plane (I already owned the black 220 in the photo below)
• 1 - Small, but very high quality hand plane
• 2 - Antique hand planes
• 1 - Antique scribe tool
• 2 - Metal rasps
• 1 - Small hand saw
• 1 - 1/2" wood chisel
• 1 - Square palm sander
• 1 - Leather apron
• 1 - Antique toolbox
• 15 - Packages of sandpaper of various grains
• 1 - Heavy duty straightedge
• 2 - 90-degree straightedges
• Assorted files of various shapes and sizes
• Assorted scrap woods, including white oak, poplar, maple, cherry, walnut, mahogany, pine, cedar, and spruce
• 1 box of smaller scrap woods of all kinds, including several dowels of different sizes

And they let me get away with all of this for only $60.00.  I will always be grateful to my friend and her mother; they will surely be invited as honored guests for the concert debut of Molnar Opus 1. 

As if this weren't enough, I then picked up 72 mechanical pencils at Costco. According to my calculations, it will be the summer of 2065 before I need another pencil (they have a tendency to disappear, but it takes a while).

Finally, I noticed a few weeks ago that a set screw was missing from the left guide block of my band saw. After ordering one and patiently waiting several weeks for it to arrive, I installed it last night in a jif. All good now.

Though I haven't made much progress on the instrument itself, it's been a great couple of weeks.

Until next time...